What does, “Give me your tired,” mean?

We are all familiar with the poem, “New Colossus” on the Statue of Liberty. If not the entire poem, at least this portion of it,

“Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

To many it has become a mandate as if it were part of the, United States Constitution. In actuality it is just a nice sentiment expressed in a poem, on a statue given to us as a gift by the French. It is a noble ideal, but does it include those who would seek to destroy our nation, and way of life? Does it include criminals entering our country illegally? Does it include criminals fleeing justice from their own countries? Does it include religious fanatics seeking to impose sharia law, and overthrow our Republic?

This country was built on the labor, and force of will executed by immigrants seeking a better life, freedom to worship God as they chose, not as they were compelled by the government. We enjoy our reputation of being the land of the free and home of the brave. We like the idea that people endeavor to come here to better their circumstances, to enjoy the American dream. We tend to forget though that it isn’t our Christian duty to offer sanctuary to any and all comers, all of the time. There are times when our national security and the safety of our allies supersede our desires to open our doors and arms to immigrants.

When it is prudent, and reasonable to allow immigration, we should. As Christians, we should want goodness for others. We should be glad to extend the hand of friendship to them. There is nothing wrong with rewarding those who seek to do it legally and for the right reasons. There is also nothing wrong with not rewarding those who would exploit us and enter in illegally. When I talk with liberals, many of them seem to think it is a moral mandate to accept even those who would kill us. They insist that we reward people who are here illegally, people who have knowingly flaunted our laws in our faces.

It seems they have changed the poem to,

“Give me your lazy, your poor,

Your malevolent masses yearning to spill blood,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the criminal, radicalized Islamic flood,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

I’m pretty sure the moral of the poem isn’t to accept every person who wants to come, but rather to extol the virtues of a nation that has been a land of opportunity for people looking for a better life.  I hope people can understand this notion before they tear down the statue of liberty as a misplaced symbol of their ire.